A woman who works for a Republican congressman told police she was attacked in a New Jersey nature reserve, but the FBI says she made the whole thing up. Natalie Greene, 26, worked for Representative Jeff Van Drew and is now facing criminal charges after investigators found out she lied about everything.
According to Daily Mail, Greene called 911 in July 2025 from a walking trail in Egg Harbor Township. She said three men jumped her, tied her up with zip ties, and cut words into her skin. When police arrived, they found her crying in the woods with her hands and feet tied together and her shirt pulled over her head.
She told the FBI that two men grabbed her and forced her to the ground before tying her up. Greene said one of them hit her in the head and then started cutting her skin, which hurt so badly that she screamed. She also claimed one man said he had a gun and would shoot her if she moved, though she never actually saw the weapon. The attackers supposedly carved a sexual slur about Trump on her stomach and wrote “Van Drew is racist” on another part of her body.
But investigators found a lot of problems with her story
The police found extra zip ties in Greene’s car that same night, which seemed strange. When they looked through her phone, they discovered she followed pages about body modification and scarification on Reddit. Her phone’s location history showed she went to a tattoo and body modification shop in Pennsylvania before showing up at the nature reserve.
The FBI learned that Greene actually paid someone $500 in cash to make those cuts on her body. The body modification artist told investigators that Greene came to his shop and showed him exactly what patterns she wanted carved into her face, neck, chest and shoulders.
Police found all the paperwork too, including consent forms and receipts that Greene signed on July 28. She worked for Van Drew, who left the Democratic Party to join the Republicans when he disagreed with efforts to impeach Trump.
Investigators also found missed calls from the artist asking Greene to get in touch with him on Instagram. Someone working with Greene had searched for “zip ties near me” on their phone. The FBI even tracked down where the zip ties came from and found a Dollar General store in the town where Greene’s helper lived that sold the exact same ones.
Greene is a law student at Rutgers and now faces two criminal charges for lying to federal investigators and making up a fake crime. If a jury finds her guilty, she could spend up to ten years in prison and pay as much as $500,000 in fines.
She has to stay out of trouble for up to six years after that if she gets out of prison. She went to court and was let go after posting a $200,000 bond. Van Drew’s decision to switch parties upset some of his Republican colleagues, but he has won his seat three more times since making the change.
Someone from Van Drew’s office said Greene doesn’t work there anymore. “While Natalie is no longer associated with the congressman’s government office, our thoughts and prayers are with her and hope she’s getting the care she needs,” Paxton Antonucci said.
Published: Nov 20, 2025 10:30 am